welcome to "newsline." . it's thursday, may 16th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. members in tokyo have approved a political resolution that calls for a resolution in syria. despite some holdouts they have condemned the regime of assad said in he's carrying out attacks on indiscriminately on civilians.

>> it is adopted. >> qatar's representative drafted the resolution. 107 countries approved it. delegates from russia, china and iran were among 12 nations that did not. they called the resolution one-sided. the resolution condemns the syrian government for systematic human rights violations and demands president assad to allow u.n. investigators into the country for assessing chemical weapons used and allow for a transition. it says the national coalition should play a role. general assembly resolutions are not binding but it would carry in the security council where russia and china have backed regions. researchers with the u.s. geological survey says the

continental shelf may hold undiscovered crude oil and natural gas. north korean agents kidnapped them in the '70s and '80s. he was a top aid to former prime minister. in 2002 and 2004. visited the north for talkings with then leader kim jung-il. kim is a close aid e. prime minister abe said he would be willing to meet with kim jung-un if it would help resolve the issue. >> translator: if a summit with

the north korean leader was considered crucial to resolving the issue, we would have to take this into account when negotiating with the country. >> abe noted that the visit led to the return of five ducts. 12 others are considered missing. the senior u.s. diplomat in charge of the north korea file is closely following the japanese enjoy trip. and says he hopes to learn more thursday. davies has been to china for discussion on nuclear and missile programs and spoke to special minister of affairs. and said the recent suspension of business with north korea by china is a significant more pressure on pyongyang.l put

he cares the six party talks on north korea's nuclear program. he added china has no intention of sending an envoy for the time being. ministers from eight arctic nations are trying to agree on a way forward for developing the region. members of the arctic council met in kiruna, sweden. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov are among those trying to set the limits. they want to protect the marine environment from being polluted. ministers granted status on the council for six countries, including japan, china and south korea. leaders from those countries want a say in how resources are used. global warming has made much of the arctic ice cover disappear creating a new shipping route

nnecng eope and asia. energy developers from around the world are looking down those sea lanes. they believe a wealth of resources lies at the bottom of the ocean. >> reporter: hammerfest the northern most town in norway. its strategic location has captured interest from a number of countries. six years ago, a major norwegian resource developer chose this town to build the world's northern most natural gas plant. the project ignited the race to explore arctic resources. >> i think record high interest from international gas and oil companies and also norwegian

companies.so i think we will se swift and strong effort to find new resources. >> reporter: an italian company is developing an oil field that should begin operating next year. it will be the first facility owned by a foreign company to explore for oil off norway's coast. the government of norway has defined more than 50 districts off the coast for the exploration of oil and gas. more than 20 companies are already involved in the project. most are based in europe and the united states, but the launch of a new shipping lane running through the arctic has drawn the attention of other players as well. a japanese company was in hammerfest last month to attend a trade fair. it is the only company from asia to have secured a government license to explore resources off the norwegian coast and now it is looking for partners. >> our success in the arctic

ocean would be a significant achievement and would mark our presence in the region. i'm firmly resolved to produce a good result for japan. >> reporter: norwegian officials are getting ready to issue additional licenses. takehashi's company has applied for approval to explore in other districts. companies in china and south korea have yet to receive a license but they are keen to display their interest in the region. officials in beijing made their intentions clear last summer by sending an icebreaker through the arctic.

a chinese shipbuilder has set up a branch office in central norway. its executives are preparing for the day when chinese companies enter norwegian resource sector. >> i don't see any reason why chinese companies wouldn't be over there. they are both norwegian company they are doing the drilling operations and charter their rigs out to other oil companies. >> reporter: the increased presence of asian countries in the region is further accelerating the global race to exploit the untapped potential of arctic ocean. nhk world, hammerfest, norway. you have the country's first

quarter gdp figures? >> i have. many people have been happy and people in the markets were expecting a positive reading for this gdp but this number coming in stronger than expected. japan's economy grew between january and march for the second quarter in a row. by category personal spending was up 0.9% due to higher stock prices and improved consumer sentiment. housing investment rose 1.9%. many people bought homes due to a consumption tax hike. exports rose 3.8%. let's get a check on markets now. u.s. stocks extended their record closing highs on the dol

time high and the nasdaq up 0.26%, the highest level since november 2000. for more on stocks, let's go to ramin. stocks just keep powering ahead in the u.s. how is the market opening here in tokyo? >> pretty strong performances as we have been covering in the u.s. a stang at highlevels. that's despite some economic data on wednesday coming out in market consensus and the empire state manufacturing region data also. it does raise hopes the u.s. federal reserve may continue to support the world's biggest economy by continuing its asset

buying pgram or kwaun quantitat easing program. we closed above 15,000 for the first time since the last week of december 2007 here in japan. however, we just talked about the gdp data in japan that showed stronger growth. on the flip side in europe a report showed a contraction and german and french gdp data disappoint and that's weighed on the euro. we'll have to watch out for export related shares in japan. japane panese mega banks reported after the bell. the trio will post a decline in net profits.

>> where do we stand on currencies this morning? >> the euro is a touch weaker as we mentioned there on the gdp data in the euro zone. 131.06 to 65. top of the screen dollar/yen 102.21. it's becoacked off a touch afte touching the 102 yen levels. we're going to watch autofor some of those mega bank shares as well as the exported shares on that move in the euro. i'll hand it right back to you. >> thanks for that update. countries taking part in the

transpacific partnership talks are preparing to tackle tough trade issues. officials are meeting in lima, peru. more than 500 officials are there for negotiations that will continue through next week.it's have concluded in four of the 21 areas. the four areas include telecommunications and customs. negotiators will be tackling areas of trade considered to be of national interest. these include issues of intelle intellectual profit and tariffs. this comes amid riding concerns

that china is illegally dumping and subsidizing . an official tydy notified china of their intentions. the commission suspects chinese telecommunication equipment makers receive illegal sub disis and sell that products at low prices. the european commission says the investigation won't be launched right away. eu authorities hope to negotiate with china to see if they can reach a solution. more headlines for you in business next hour. here is a check on markets.

the expert panel of japan's nuclear regulation authority has confirmed the ground beneath a power plant is unstable. panel members say a reactor on the sea of japan coast sits on an active fault and they say it is at risk should an earthquake strike. "nhk world" reports. >> reporter: the experts reached the conclusion at a meeting on wednesday. the findings were from their seismological study on the plant. >> translator: the question is whether the newly found fault is active or not. in the final analysis, we conclude that it is an active one. >> reporter: government guidelines banned plant operators from building reactors directly above active faults. that means if the panel's

findings are upheld, the reactor could be shut down for good. the plant is currently offline. nuclear regulation authority commissioners say they will decide their next step on the reactor as early as next week. local reactions were mixed. >> translator: if there is any possibility the reactor sits on an active fault, we shouldn't let it run. >> translator: the reactor should be decommissioned at once. children.d be good for our >> translator: many people work at the power plant. the reactors should be allowed to run. >> reporter: the mayor questions the findings. he said experts with wider backgrounds should be involved. >> translator: nuclear energy

has been promoted in line with state policy. if the reactor is to be shut down, the government should show us an alternative way to support our economy. >> reporter: plant operator also criticized the experts' conclusion. the vice president of japan atomic power company has protested to the nra. >> translator: the report is not based on scientific or technological data. far from it. we've lodged a complaint. we hope they review the content. >> reporter: the operators said it will conclude its own survey into the fault by june. panel members say they may review the report if the operator comes up with new findings. nra commissioners stress, they make decisions based on scientific evidence.

but critics point out they will need to explain in more detail how they reached their conclusions if they are to rebuild trust in the country's nuclear policy. >> that trust was lost after the accident a fukushima. explosions and meltdowns in 2011 disbursed radiation in a wide area. the cleanup is finished but a number of residents haven't moved back. a newly developed device could help ease their fears. >> reporter: these workers are look fing for a device that can be seen or felt. it displays it as an objects showing radiation are

depicted in red. in some areas radon levels are still too high for people to live. work cleanup started in november 2011. decontamination of residential areas finished in march. they hoped that could encourage former residents to return less than half have done so. >> translator: we ask each other if radiation levels are safe but i guess all question do is believe what the village says. >> reporter: the data is collected. this device measures radiation coming from all directions. it gives a reading for the immediate vicinity but it cannot

tell you where the radiation is coming from. the gamma camera has overcome the shortcoming. the cera only r radiation theco direction it's facing. the camera's view is 43 degrees. this means it can measure an area eight meters high and eight meters wide from a distance of ten meters. it usually takes about 20 minutes to produce an image but if radiation levels are high the results will appea sooner. the gamma camera can detect the expect source and strength of radiation. it super imposes it on an image to show where radio activity exists. the deeper the red, the higher the contamination. gamma cameras are using for medical and other purposes but these are in a tiny range.

this is the sensor used in the camera. the developer saw a way to use it in fukushima but he had to work on a tight deadline. we want we. >> translator: we wanted to make the camera as quick as possible. >> reporter: workers used this camera to check this out after decontamination. they found a number of radiation sources in the backyard and other places. >> translator: you can see some

rad radioactive materials left. some spots in the field also need to be cleaned. >> translator: now i can tell where radiation is because they showed me in the camera. >> translator: i think the gamma camera will be an effective tool to promote the village's decontamination and convince the residents that the village is safe to return. >> reporter: the work will continue through november in residential areas pm village officials will ask the central government to do further clean up in places where radiation levels are still high.

time now to get a check on the weather. there's a cyclonic storm heading in bengal. >> it continues to batterliving.

more than 11,000 people have been affected and the storm appears to be easing up some what in sri lanka and concern is shifting to bangladesh and myanmar macomb thousands of people are living in refugee camps and authorities warn of a human tragedy if people aren't evacuated. it's making landfall in bangladesh in the evening hours on thursday. wind gusts up to 95 kilometers per hour and could go up to 100. enough to break the branches off the trees and breaking signs and damaging houses. people in the tents, this is the area they're concerned with the humanitarian catastrophe. it is now picking up its pace at 20 kilometers per hour and packing accumulation of rainfall. about 150 in this track and 200 millimeters could be found in localized areas.

due to the storm surge it's creating and localized conditions, the areas are very very vulnerable especially in low-lying areas where the refugee camps are in myanmar. towards china you see another red spot, another area we're looking at with the rainy season started in southwestern china. that will be moving in towards the southeastern region with more to come and we had rain in the guangdong province and a lot of the area has seen 100 millimeters and 50 to 100 millimeters will be likely in

the next 24 hours even though we don't want any more additional. across japan is expecting afternoon thunderstorms. some could be on the severe side but the main threat is hail gusts and also frequent lightning. tokyo will start to see the thunderstorms scattering across the area, possibly around 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. hours with temperature reaching 25 degrees. scorching hot in bangkok at 38 degrees. towards north america, we have been talking about the heat across the west and north really heavy rain battering ontario. towards the south, the mid-leak states where we will probably see strong thunderstorms in the course of the day and super cell thunderstorms could be ignited in northern texas due to the clash of the two big masses. oklahoma city at 26 degrees, houston at 29. san francisco at 17 degrees.

eureka, you're only down to 13 for your high, well below your average. here's our extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: the obama administration was back on the defensive today, as attorney general eric holder faced questions on capitol hill over the i.r.s.'s targeting of conservative groups and the secret seizure of the a.p.'s phone records. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight, we follow up with a closer look at the i.r.s.'s independence and new developments on the story. >> ifill: then, margaret warner reports on more troubling allegations of sexual assaults in the military, as leaders charged with protecting victims are accused of abuse.